ger of a rebellion fanctified by the Church, than by the following words of Morton; MORTON. The gentle Archbishop of York is up But now, the bishop Turns infurrection to religion: Suppos'd fincere and holy in his thoughts, He's follow'd both with body and with mind, And doth enlarge his rifing with the blood Of fair King Richard, fcrap'd from Pomfret ftones; Nor Nor can the indecency of a prelate's appearing in arms, and the abuse of an authority derived from the facred function, be more strongly arraigned, than in the speeches of Westmorland, and John of Lancaster. WESTMORLAND. Then, my lord, Unto your grace do I in chief addrefs The fubftance of my fpeech. If that rebellion With your fair honours. You, my lord archbishop, Whofe fee is by a civil peace maintain'd, Whose beard the filver hand of peace hath touch'd, Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutor❜d, Whose white investments figure innocence, The dove and very bleffed fpirit of peace; Wherefore do you fo ill tranflate yourself, Out of the speech of peace, that bears fuch grace, My lord of York, it better fhew'd with you, Your expofition on the holy text; Than now to fee you here an iron man, In fhadow of fuch greatnefs! With you, lord bishop, To us, the fpeaker in his parliament, To us th'imagin'd voice of heav'n itself, The very opener and intelligencer Between the grace, the fanétities of heav'n, And our dull workings: O, who shall believe But you mifufe the rev'rence of your place, Employ Employ the countenance and grace of heav'n, As a falfe favourite doth his prince's name, The subjects of his fubftitute, my father; The archbishop of York, even when he appears an iron man, keeps up the gravity and seeming fanctity of his character, and wears the mitre over his helmet. He is not, like Hotspur, a valiant rebel, full of noble anger and fierce defiance, he speaks like a cool politician to his friends, and like a deep designing hypocrite to his enemies, and pretends he is only acting as physician to the state, I have before obferved, that Shakespear had the talents of an Orator, as much as of a Poet; and I believe it will be allowed, that the speeches of Westmorland and Lancaster are as proper on this occafion, and the particular circumstances as happily touch'd, as they could could have been, by the most judicious orator. I know not that any poet, ancient or modern, has fhewn so perfect a judgment in rhetoric as our countryman. I wish he had employed his eloquence likewise, in arraigning the baseness and treachery of John of Lancaster's conduct, in breaking his covenant with the rebels. Pistol is an odd kind of perfonage, intended probably to ridicule fome fashionable affectation of bombaft language. When fuch characters exift no longer but in the writings, where they have been ridiculed, they seem to have been monsters of the poet's brain. The originals loft and the mode forgotten, one can neither praise the imitation, nor laugh at the ridicule. Comic writers should therefore always exhibit some characteristic diftinctions, as well as temporary modes. Juftice Shallow will for ever rank with a certain fpecies of men; he is like a well painted portrait in the dress of Piftol appears a mere antiquated habit, fo uncouthly fashioned, we can hardly believe, his age. 2 |